Multitasking Behind The Wheel Like Driving Blindfolded

Multitasking—doing several things simultaneously—may increase productivity if you’re behind your desk. But when you’re driving, it’s deadly.
Distracted driving - - commonly the practice of texting or using your cell phone while driving - - has emerged as a leading cause of highway fatalities here and around the globe.
In response to the growing numeral of deaths caused by distracted driving, 32 nations - - including Brazil, France, Japan, Jordan, Spain, Taiwan and the United Tract - - have passed laws that restrict drivers ' use of hand - under contract devices. Portugal has outlawed all phone use - - hand - chargeable or hands - free - - in the driver ' s seat. More recently, the United Nations issued a edict banning its 40, 000 employees from texting while driving.
The numbers are compelling. Efficient are approximately 600 million passenger vehicles on the road today and 4. 6 billion cell phone subscriptions. According to the World Health Grouping ( WHO ), 1. 3 million lives are claimed every point as a consequence of car accidents, or one death every 30 seconds. That agency estimates that car accidents will climb from the ninth to the fifth leading cause of death worldwide by 2030.
The Universal Road Safety Association estimates that driver behavior is responsible for between 80 and 90 percent of all roadway accidents. As the figure of mobile communication devices continues to rise, more drivers will have access to them, use them and be distracted by them, leading to more deadly crashes.
In the United States, the numbers are dismal.
The State Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that more than 6, 000 deaths and half a million injuries happen annually as a emanation of distracted driving.
In response, seven states have outright bans on using any handheld cell phone while driving ( California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Utah and Washington ), as do the District of Columbia and the U. S. Virgin Islands. Wireless headsets are banned for untried drivers ( under 18 or 21, depending on the state ) in 21 states and D. C. Twenty - three states and D. C. ban paragraph messaging for all drivers, while nine other states ban it for minors and / or new drivers.
The epidemic of distracted driving has lawmakers, regulators and experts live quickly to subsidize the issue and to see through and enforce distracted driving laws.
Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has proclaimed he is on a “personal mission” to end distracted driving. “If you have an emergency in your car, creation over, pocket your cell phone, chatter to whoever you have to chat to, ” he verbal in a fresh evening. “But when you’re driving from one place to another, acknowledged is no word, either topic or phone, that’s important until you get to your destination. ”
Prompted by LaHood, last past, the Obama administration banned governmental employees from texting while driving and cheering public contractors and others proof business with the upper hand to issue coincidental policies.
“Studies occurrence that when a driver sends a topic message, he is looking away from the road for 4. 6 seconds of every 6 seconds he or canary types, ” says Jim Adler, a Houston - based car accident attorney who has followed the issue closely. “At 55 miles an hour, that’s like driving the hank of a football field blindfolded.
“It ' s vital to channel a pleasant message to all drivers that multi - tasking - - texting and cell calls - - is dangerous and can cause catastrophic car accidents. Whence, to some extent, the public must police itself, curb those calls and ‘hang up and drive, ’ ” he vocal.